F 29 




.P39 


W7 


Copy 


1 



Pemaquid and Monhegan. 



ADDRESS OF HON. CHARLES lA-.Vl WOODBURY 

OF BOSTON 

BEFORE THE HYDE PARK HISTORICAL SOCIETY, 

February 26, 1891. 



Ladies and Gentlemen of this Historical Society: I 
remember when I first saw Pemaquid. I was cruising eastward in 
the yacht of the Hon. Benjamin Dean of Boston, and, owing to 
the fog, we ran in by Pemaquid Point until we reached the outer 
harbor. Here we caught mackerel and waited for the fog to lift. 
On the shore an abandoned porgy factory, perfumed as unlike a 
bank of violets as possible, occupied one chop of the harbor ; on 
the other stood a large, square house, more pretentious than a 
farm-house, and in front could be traced some slight ridges and a 
few bunches of bushes. 

We sailed the next morning, bound east, and on our starboard 
hand, as we neared the point, a lofty island some four leagues 
away attracted our attention, — it was Monhegan. When we 
returned from our explorations of the islands of the Penobscot 
and Mount Desert, we sighted the island, the morning sun play- 
ing on its top, bathed it in light ; amid a peaceful ocean it rose 
like an island of the blessed ; anon the lighthouse and then as 
with flowing sail we neared it, houses and then windows could be 
made out. The wind was fair, but on my suggestion that this 
was the hallowed ground, the germ of New England, we hauled 
up a little closer to the wind and dashed up to the head of the 
harbor, tacked and stood off on our course, westward, ho! We 
had seen the cradle of New England. 

My theme to-night is specially the history of the Forts of 
Pemaquid. 



F^. 



Pemaquid and Monbegan. 



DISCOVERY. 

Before entering on this recital of the conflict of races and of 
nations, of civilization and savage life, to control the destinies of 
this continent, I should refer briefly to the discover}- of this coast. 

After Columbus had astonished Europe, and rivalled the Port- 
ugese explorations of the East, the Pop-i divided the new-found 
territories, giving the west to the Spaniards and the east to the 
Portugese. France and England, being left unsatisfied and dis- 
satisfied, went for their shares in several wavs. Thev captured 
the Spanish treasure ships and confiscated their cargo. — that is. 
private gentlemen did it in an unofficial way. When thev got 
captured, the Spaniards hung them promptly at the vard-arm, and 
when the Spaniards were taken after a resistance, an old Nor- 
wegian or Viking method of sending captives "home bv sea" was 
resorted to, and they were made to walk the plank ! 

In the north, the fisheries of Newfoundland and Cape Breton 
were pursued by French, Portugese and Spaniards, to whom were 
added, in the last third of the si.xteenth centur\-, the English, — 
all well armed, holding their fares of fish not merelv bv the hook 
but by the sword, as the national law of the fisheries. 

The coast between Nova Scotia and the ubiquitous Florida 
was little frequented, and ver}- dangerous, except to heavilv 
armed vessels. The sight of a sail was signal for a fight or a 
flight. The few armed traders or piratical explorers who touched 
its shores brought to Europe the rumor that somewhere on what 
we now know as the coast of Maine there was a great, rich native 
city called Norumbega, a myth like the Island of the Seven Cities 
that Cabot pursued. 

South of 40*^ north latitude the French had been beaten off 
from forming a settlement, and Sir Walter Raleigh had been 
defeated by vicissitudes and perils in a like purpose. We 
need not consider Cortoreal, Gomez and Verezano, nor Cartier. 
Roberval or Gilbert and the like adventurers. 

Practically, our knowledge of the coast of New England begins 
with 1600. and we may leave the si.xteenth centurv* out of consid- 
eration, and begin here. In 1600, Sir Walter Raleigh and his 
relative, Sir Humphrey Gilbert, had stirred up the English, and 
the French had equally awoke to the determination to have some 
part of the North American coast south of 45-, whether the 
Spaniards liked it or not. Patents were readily granted by 

Mira P't^ i jri Woodward 
3«pt 11 1950 



Penuiqiiid tiiiJ Monhegan. 3 

princes for territory "in remote heatlien and barbarous lands," 
but it was as difficult for the patentee to take possession as it 
would have been for the Royal Grantor to show any color of title 
in himself. At this date the trade of fishing at Newfoundland 
and Cape Breton and adjacent shores had been thoroughly 
exploited during the preceding century by French and English 
(Parkhurst, in 1578, estimates 530 sail fishing on these coasts); 
and it was almost side by side that these two nations now 
explored the riches of the New England coast, and grasped for its 
exclusive control. • 

In 1602, Gosnold made a voyage on this coast and touched the 
coast of Maine at York Nubble. His ^historiographer writes that 
as they neared the shore a Biscayan shallop under sail dashed out 
from the other side of the great rock and ran down to them, 
having: on board some half dozen Indians with about two suits of 
European clothes divided between them. They held a very 
pleasant interview, the Indians making them quite a chart of the 
coast with chalk on a board, and Gosnold, finding himself at Lat. 
43", further north than his object, the Vineyard Sound and 
Island, bore away southward, leaving two isles (Boon and Isle of 
Shoals) on his port hand. This fixes the location ; it also fixes the 
fact that French or Basque traders had been there before him, 
and that the natives had learned to handle the sloop. In 1603 
Marty n Pryng was on the coast, and in 1604 Weymouth was at 
Monhegan, and at Damarel's Cove Islands. In the same year, 
De Monts and Champlain were also at these points. The issue 
was shaping between the French and the English. 

The French king, in 1603, had granted a charter to De Monts 
for all the region from latitude 40" to 48" or 49", which we now 
call New York and New England. 

The English king (James I.), in 1606, had granted the Virginia 
charter, divided into two sections, one, North Virginia, having 
nearly the same boundaries as the New France granted by the 
French. The Indians were in actual possession ; the Spaniards 
claimed the coast. Here were two new titles. Who would get 
the actual possession of the land they all wanted .' 

De Monts and that skilful navigator, Champlain, came over in 
1604, skirted the Coast of Nova Scotia, round into Port Royal, 
crossed to the other side of the Bay of Fundy and settled at the 
mouth of the St. Croix River. In 1605 they explored the coast as 



4 Pemaquid and Monhegan. 

far south as the Nantucket Shoals; sighting the island Mon- 
hegan, "La Nef," they called it, and entering Boothbay Harbor 
explored the Sheepscot and the Kennebec. Here on their return 
they learned of Weymouth's gross outrage. In the followino- 
year, after movnig their residence to Port Royal, they acrain 
explored these coasts. ^ 

Shall it become New England or New France } It required an 
hundred and fifty years to settle this question. 

The English Company, of whom Chief Justice Popham was the 
head, and whose members were West of England people, sent out 
two vessels under Raleigh Gilbert and George Popham, with 
settlers who made their first landfall at the island of Monhegan 
where they celebrated religious services according to the Church 
of England, and then came over to the mouth of the Kennebec, 
and settled on an island which is now Fort Popham. From Mon- 
hegan they paid their first visit to Pemaquid. 

The Indians of the country were of the Abnaki tribes, whose 
tributaries extended westward, and south through Maine, New 
Hampshu-e and part of Massachusetts. Th.^ir chief head was the 
Bashaba, who lived at Pemaquid, a few miles up the river. 

Here let me interject! Weymouth had kidnapped and 
carried off some Indians to England, where Sir Fernando Gorges 
got two of them, and, when they knew enough English, drew from 
them a knowledge of the country, the tribes and their power, etc 
which was of great benefit in the future. One of these, Skitwares' 
found his way back to the Bashaba; another had come with the 
expedition as interpreter, and their intercourse was easy, and 
became very friendly ; another, Saggamore Nahandu, had also 
been in England. It was clear the beaver trade was good and 
profitable. The Indians east of the Penobscot were called 
Tarrantines, were enemies of the Bashaba, and held rather to the 
French. 

In the autumn of 1608, the settlement at the Kennebec broke 
up and the most of the settlers returned to England, but that did 
not close business operations. Sir Francis Popham, Gorges and 
others continued in the trade, and running the .remarkably fine 
fishing, which the waters from Cape Newwagen to Pemaquid and 
to Monhegan afforded. Hither also the South Virginia Company 
soon sent vessels every year to fish for their own supply. In 
1609, Zuringu notes one ship and a tender sailing for North 



I^eniiiqiiiJ iinJ Monhegan. 5 

Virj^inia, probably Sir I^'rancis Popham's. The coast and trade 
were thoroughly explored on each side. Champlain's journals and 
maps were published in France in 1611, Lescarbot's history in 
1609, and Martyn Pryng's admirable researches of 1606, and maps, 
were fully known to the North Virginia Company adventurers. 

In 1610, Captain Argal, from Virginia, fished on the coast, in 
latitude 43° 40'. Another ship, his companion, was also on this 
coast. 

In 161 1, two captains, Harlie and Hobson, sailed for this coast 
from England. In this year the French visited the abandoned 
settlement of Popham at Fort St. George twice, under M. de 
Biancourt from Port Royal. Father Biard states they found some 
English sloops fishing, but did not attack them. The first 
collision took place this year, when a French vessel under 
Captain Platrier was captured by two English vessels, near 
Emmetonic, an island about eight leagues from the Kennebec. 
These vessels were probably those of Mr. Williams, Popham's 
agent, and may have been those of Captains Hobson and Harlie. 

1612. Williams is stated to have been on the coast this year also. 

161 3. The French had made a settlement at Mount Desert. 
Captain Argal, who was fishing from Virginia about Monhegan, 
heard of it and ran down, captured their vessels and many of the 
settlers, including Father Biard, broke up the plantation and took 
his prizes to Virginia.' 

1614. Argal also attacked the French settlement at Port 
Royal. There was a resolute spirit astir under each flag. 
Perhaps its sole inducement was glory, but the value of the 
fishery and of the fur trade was practically held out to those 
who came the best armed and the best manned to partake in its 
profits. Neither side was disposed to invite the public into their 
confidence ; it was too good a thing to be thrown open. 

In 1 614, John Smith came out with two vessels for trade, fish 
and whaling; also Captain Hobson was here with an interpreter; 
and in the fall Sir Richard Hawkins and two vessels came out to 
try the winter fishing and trade. They all came to Monhegan, 
and Captain Smith says that at Pemaquid, opposite him, was a 
ship of Sir Francis Popham that had traded there for several 
years. Smith states that he learned two French ships were trading 
about the Merrimack and that he did not go in sight of them, — 
judicious navigator! 



6 Peiimqitiif an J Moubegan. 

Smith had the weakness of literature. He wrote well, and 
when he returned he wrote and published. Thus, what with him 
and Champlain, the trade secrets and profits of this coast were 
opened to the public, and a new era soon set in. 

There was another effective cause also, which was the most 
important stimulus to the making of permanent settlemLnits. 

THE WINTER FISHERY. 

The course of the English fishermen had been to leave home 
in January and reach Monhegan, or Damrel's Cove, in March, set 
up their stages and begin fishing. By June their fish were caught 
and by August or September dried, so that they could sail for 
Spain and obtain an early market. They brought out double 
crews, forty to sixty msn, thus speeding their fishing. It 
transpired that the winter fishing was the best in quantity and 
quality. As the adventurers were business people with an eye 
to profit, good grounds were opened to them for permanent 
establishments about these charmed fishing-grounds, from Cape 
Newwagen and Damrel's Cove Islands to Pemaquid, and off shore 
to Monhegan, — where all the English fishing then was carried 
on. Sir Richard Hawkins was president of the North Virginia 
Council, and with his two ships wintered here, but in which harbor 
is now unknown, caught cargo for both ships, and sailed the 
following spring, — one ship for Spain, the other for Virginia. 
It was a success. 

It is difificult to say how many vessels were yearly here before 
this, but Smith states he had six or seven maps given him before 
he sailed, which shows they were more numerous than have been 
recorded. The vessels anchored in harbors, built stages, fish- 
houses and flakes on shore, and sent out their crews in small 
boats daily to fish. Their fares were then brought to the stages, 
cleaned, salted and dried there, and shipped when ready for 
market. With the winter fishery the stages and small boats 
could be occupied all the year round, and the half crew left there 
be earning instead of lying idle. 

Pemaquid was the best place for the fur trade, because of its 
proximity to the Bashaba; also it could in a great degree 
command the fur trade of the Kennebec. There is every reason 
to suppose that Sir Francis Popham's people built some block- 



Priihh]iiiif iinJ Moiihegnn. 7 

liousc or trade station there, as he had traded there for several 
years, but no statement of the fact has come down to us. 

In 1615, Smith states that four or five ships from London, — 
one sent by Sir Francis Gorges from Plymouth, and two under his 
command — sailed for Monhegan. Smith was captured in one of 
them by the French. How many came fishing from Virginia 
we do not learn. Smith wrote his book this year, and it was 
published in 1616. He was reproached bitterly for disclosing the 
secrets of the country. This publication gave impetus to the 
voluntary Jzshcnnefi, not connected with the great companies, to 
come here and try their fortunes. In this year the Dutch sloop 
Restless, built at New York in 161 1 by Adrian Block, came 
as far as the Penobscot on a trading voyage. Her captain, 
Hendrickson, made a map of the coast. 

The first vessel built in the country was the Virginia, built 
1607-08, at the Kennebec settlement; the Restless was the next. 
Of course pinnaces had been taken out by fishermen and set up 
after arriving here, but these two were actually built here. 

SETTLEMENT. 

The contingencies of trade and the fishery were now devel- 
oi)ing the original purpose of the North Virginia Company. Sir 
h^-ancis Popham's trading headquarters had been all this time at 
Pemaquid, as both Smith and Gorges state. 

Sir Fernando Gorges now took up the matter of wintering 
there. Let me cite his own language, " I bought a ship for 
fishing and trade. I sent Vines and others, my own servants, 
with their provision, for trade and discovery, appointing them to 
leave the ship and ship's company for to follow their business in 
the usual place. By these, and by the help of the natives formerly 
sent over, I came to be truly informed of so much as gave me the 
assurance that in time I should want no undertakers, though, as 
yet, I was forced to hire men to stay there the winter quarter at 
extreme rates, and not without danger; for that the war had 
consumed the Ba.shaba," (and the plague, etc.), " notwithstanding 
Vines and the rest with him that lay in the cabins with the people 
that died, some more or less mightily, not one of them ever felt 
tlieir heads to ache, and this course I held some years together." 

This appears to make it clear that Pemaquid was occupied 
for trade purposes from the departure of the Popham Gilbert 



8 Pemaqiiid iisnf Monheonn. 

Colony from the Kennebec in 1608, and at an early date per- 
manently, with a view of establishing English settlements on 
the main land of the grant. Some writers say that it was at Saco 
that Vines with his men lay, during the winter of 1617-18. 
This plague raged about three years, killing nine-tenths of the 
Indians living between the Penobscot and Cape Cod. 

In 1619, Captain Rowcroft left three men at Saco, who made 
their way eastward and crossed to Monhegan, where they were 
found in the spring. They must have had a boat, and probably 
the reason why they crossed from Pemaquid or Cape Newwagen 
was to join winter fishermen remaining there. 

In 1 616, Smith states four ships of London and two of Plymouth 
and Sir Richard Hawkins were again in these waters. He does 
not give the vessels from South Virginia. Vines also came in 
command of a ship. 

In 161 7, eight tall ships came there from England. 

In 161 8, six or seven volunteer ships came from the west of 
England, and those of the two companies. Captain Rowcroft also 
seized a French barque. Smith also states that in 1614, 1616 and 
1617 he was prepared with ten or fifteen men to stay in the 
country, but his purposes were defeated. In 1619, he says one 
went from the West, those of London not stated. 

In 1620, six or seven sail went from the west country, those of 
London not stated. 

The prospect of establishing settlements was so flattering 
that early in this year the company applied, for a new charter, 
obtained a warrant therefor, and the charter passed the Great 
Seal, November, 1620, creating them the Great Council of 
Plymouth, with boundaries from north latitude 40" to 48", and 
powers of government, title to the lands, and also giving them 
a monopoly of the trade and the fishery. Before I pass to this 
charter I will continue the preceding subject. 

In 1619, Gorges sent out Captain Dermer, who was to have 
met Captain Rowcroft, but found he was gone. Dermer took his 
pinnace and, with an interpreter, coasted as far as Virginia. 

In 1620, he visited the harbor where the Pilgrims arrived in 
the following December. Captain Pryng had called it, in 1603, 
Mount Aldworth, Champlain, in 1605, had named it Bay St. 
Louis, but the Pilgrim settlers called it New Plymouth. Dermer 
went from here with his interpreter and squaw to a distance into 



Pemaquid and Honhegan. 9 

the interior, and rescued from the savages two Frenchmen who 
had been shipwrecked in a French barque some time before. 
"Mourt's Relation" states that the Pilgrims, when on Cape Cod, 
found one or two plank houses. Possibly these were of the South 
Virginia attempts to establish their cod fishery. 

This new monopoly, the Great Council of Plymouth, caused 
a great row. The South Virginia Company fought it in par- 
liament, claimed they, too, spent ;^5000 in establishing their 
fishery on the east coast, and were now cut off by this grant. 
The voluntary fishermen fought it, both in parliament and on the 
coast, as a monopoly. Gorges defended the charter bravely. The 
House of Commons was against him, but the king and the House 
of Lords were for him, and the charter stood. The Pilgrims 
had a charter from Virginia, but their settlement was in the New 
England jurisdiction. Gorges obtained a charter for them here 
and helped them. But this branch of history is not within the 
scope of this discourse. 

♦The French ambassador also objected to the King against this 
charter, as an infringement on the territory of the French. The 
question whether it should be New England or New France was 
pressed with renewed vigor. 

Pemaquid became now the forefront of our array. A force 
of 1 500 to 3000 armed fishermen, hanging on its flanks half the 
year, was more than ever impenetrable and imposing. The great 
])rofits of the fishing for all the round season drew settlements 
at convenient points. The Isles of Shoals, the Piscataqua, Saco, 
Casco, Monhegan and the Damrel's Cove Islands, even also Cape 
Ann, felt the balmy influence of profit and protection, and rallied 
settlers behind the overshadowing eyes of Pemaquid and Mon- 
hegan. Plymouth was not a good fishing place, nor was the 
Massachusetts, but on the eastern coast the fishermen rallied. 

The younger Gorges came out governor for New England in 
1623, and visited Pemaquid, but the council at home gave up the 
fishing monopoly and the voluntary fishermen thrived. I must 
not cumber you with details. The ships came to Monhegan or 
the Isles of Shoals and sent up to the bay in their pinnaces the 
passengers and freight due there. Those who wished to go to 
England generally sailed "down East" and took shipping there. 
For trade goods and fishing prior to 1630 Pemaquid was without 
an equal on the coast. The petition of the inhabitants there in 



lo Pemaquid and Monbegan. 

1684, to the Duke of York, concludes: "and that Pemaquid may 
still remain metropolis of these parts, because it ever have been 
so before Boston was settled." Grants were made at Pemaquid 
and Monhegan as early as 1623 surely ; the Earl Arundel had this 
section assigned as his di\-idend in 1622, and Abram Jennings 
of PhTnouth, who was then a member of the council, we 
recognize in 1626 as selling out his great trading establishment 
at Monhegan, and a flock of goats, which the PUgrims and ^Ir. 
Thompson of Piscataqua came down and bought between them, 
also some ^800 of goods. 

We find Pierce with a par em of strange origin at Pemaquid* 
also Brown earlier than 1625. the latter rejoicing in a title deed 
from Captain John Somerset, the chief of that ilk, him whom the 
Pilgrims called " Samoset," who welcomed them in English and 
introduced them to one of Gorges' Indians, Tisquantum or 
Squanto, who was afterwards their interpreter and diplomat for 
years among their neighbor tribes. There is no need to dwell on 
the land titles of Aldworth, Elbridge and Shurtz. There wa^ a 
mechanic and farming population here, workers of iron, makers 
of clay pipes, tanners, shipwrights, adjunct to the fur traders and 
''ye fishermen," but the place being free had no archives. Mr. 
Shurtz, the Justice of Peace, appears to have been the total of 
government, unless they had also a town meeting. The Pilgrims, 
when star\-ed near to death in 1622, saw a shallop come into the 
harbor which they feared was a French man of war. She proved 
to be from Damrel's Cove Islands. They followed her back in 
their own boat and got pro\"isions from the generous fishermen 
to supply their needs. They had, states Bradford, the further 
benefit of finding their wa}" there for future use. They came 
again in 1623, and when their boat was stove and sunk at 
Damrel's Cove Islands in 1624, the jolly fishermen joined in 
raising and repairing her for them. We infer that these voluntar)' 
fishermen were neither Brownists nor Puritans, as Phineas Pratt 
in his narrative states he arrived at these islands in 1622, and 
found that " the fishermen had set up a Ma\-pole and were ver)- 
meny." The PhTnouth people soon set up a trade there and at 
the Kennebec, and supported their colon}- by its profits. The}- 
owed something to the merr)- fi.shermen as well as to Sir 
Fernando Gorsres. 



Pemaqitid and Moiiheivau. u 

PEMAOUID AND MONHEGAN. 

BY CHARLES LEVI WOODBURY. 
[continued.] 

WiNTHROP, in 1630, writes in his journal that, on the day 
the Arbella got into Nahumkeik Harbor, Mr. Atherton, in 
his sloop bound to Pemaquid, dropped in and called on them. 
Mr. Shurtz of Pemaquid, in the next year, sent to the bay an 
Indian woman who had been taken by the Tarantines at Agawam. 
In 1635, Winthrop states only thirty ploughs were running in the 
bay. In 1640, he writes in his journal that one Graften, in a 
sloop, had sailed to Pemaquid and brought back to the bay twenty 
cows and oxen with hay and water for them. In 1635, he states 
that the ship, the Angel Gabriel, was lost at Pemaquid in a great 
storm. She was intended for the bay, and her consort, the 
James, was nearly lost at the Isles of Shoals. Thus one can see 
that, though the bay settlements had much direct trade with 
Great Britain, they had not displaced the ancient leadership of 
Pemaquid in the fish and fur trades. Its exports and casual 
passenger trade long flourished. 

France, under the strong hands of Richelieu, had organized 
her settlements in North America and, not renouncing her claim 
to New England, was active in reducing all she could into actual 
possession. Consequently, Pemaquid became a frontier station 
of the utmost importance to the future of the English possessions 
westward on the coast. Undoubtedly, some stockades and a few 
guns had long been maintained at Pemaquid to oppose the 
onslaughts of French, Indians and pirates, but this was individual 
work, rather than public preparation. 

I may add here that the New Plymouth people made two 
efforts to establish trading ports on the Penobscot, and that the 
French captured each and broke up their trade, in 163 1 and 
1635. 

THE FORTS OF PEMAQUID. 

It is not my purpose to trace the long history of the French 
and Indian wars, but reverting to the subject I began with, the 
ruins of Pemaquid, I will trace the succession of the forts 
and the vicissitudes they endured, briefly, because my limits 
are narrow, and because numerous general histories of New 
Eno-land fill out the surrounding events which I must omit. 



12 Pemaquid and Monhegan. 

In 1630, we learn that a more pretentious fort was built at 
Pemaquid, where the farmers and resident fishermen had largely 
increased. 

In 1632, one Dixey Bull, a dissatisfied Englishman, turned 
pirate, and with fifteen others surprised and plundered the 
settlement at Pemaquid and raised great disturbance on the coast. 
Bull lost one of his principal men in the attack. Captain Neale 
of Piscataqua went with forty men to the relief of Pemaquid. 
After this Pemaquid seems to have had better protection, as we 
hear no more of such attacks. In 1664, this country east of the 
Kennebec came under the patent of the Duke of York, who paid 
small attention to it, for in 1675 one hundred discontented 
citizens petitioned to Massachusetts for, " wherein some times 
past we have had some kind of government settled amongst us, 
but for these several years we have not had any at all," etc., and 
therefore ask to be taken under the protection of Massachusetts. 
Eleven of the signers are of Pemaquid, fifteen are of Damrel's 
Cove Islands, sixteen of Cape Newwagen (Bonawagon in the 
petition), eighteen are of Monhegan, twenty-one of Kennebec and 
fifteen of the Sheepscot. How many were of the opposite 
opinion does not appear : probably it was the more numerous 
imrty. 

In 1675, the Indian War, known as King Phillip's War, began. 
In 1676, the settlers at Pemaquid and on the adjacent islands 
were surprised by an organized, extensive Indian attack. Pem- 
aquid was deserted, as was the country and coast, by all who 
could escape the merciless tomahawk. The survivors, about three 
hundred in number, took refuge at Damrel's Cove Islands, where 
they held out about a fortnight, when, realizing the impractica- 
bility of defence, they sailed in various vessels west to Piscataqua, 
or Boston, and all east of the Sagadahoc was desolate. 

Major Waldron with a strong force was sent down to redeem 
captives and to retaliate. He had a sharp brush with the 
Indians at Pemaquid, — a F'ort Gardner is spoken of as being 
then in their control, probably a block-house. They had burnt 
Pemaquid directly on its being abandoned. An affidavit in my 
possession of one John Cock, born east of the Kennebec and 
driven off in 1676 by the Indians, speaks of a Mr. Padishal having 
been killed at Pemaquid by the Indians. The Duke of York's 
government at New York now awoke from their, apathy and 



Pemaqiiid and Monhegan. 13 

prepared a formidable force to retake his possessions, and in 
1677 took possession of the country and established a govern- 
ment. A new fort, on the site of the old one, was erected, — a 
wooden redoubt with two guns aloft, an outwork with two 
bastions, each carrying two guns, and one gun at the gate. Fifty 
soldiers were stationed as a garrison, and the fort was named 

FORT CHARLES. 

Under this protection, Pemaquid was made the capital of the 
duke's territory ; a custom-house, licenses for fishing, and a 
Justice of Peace established. The Indians were awed, and a kind 
of treaty made with them. The smacks that had been captured 
were restored, captives released and a delusive hope of peace 
indulged. 

1.684 found "they of Pemaquid" much delighted with the 
glories, military and civil, of their capital, as well as their 
returning trade, petitioning the duke for more favors, "and that 
Pemaquid may still remain the metropolis of these parts because 
it ever have been so, before Boston was settled." Alas for this 
dream of the revival of the traditional capital, Norumbega, 
politics in 1686 enforced the jurisdiction of these parts to be 
ceded to the new royal Massachusetts charter, and the love-lorn 
Pemaquid was divorced from New York. 

1687 brought a solace for their woe. The thirsty Bay Puritans 
under the orders of the judge of Pemaquid made a raid on the 
French settlement at Bagaduce, on the Penobscot, where the 
Baron Castine lived, and carried off to Pemaquid a ship and cargo 
of wines, etc., imported by him. This spoliation caused serious 
complaints from the French ambassador at London. I will not 
say that free rum flowed at Pemaquid. The perfumed and stim- 
ulating red wines of Gascony and Burgundy shed their nectar on 
the parched gullets of the judge, collectors, tide waiters and 
bailiffs, — the official aristocracy, — in biblical phrase, "without 
money and without price." Even the soldiers of the garrison, or 
at least the officers, got more than a sniff at the aromatic fluid. 
On Darwin's doctrine of heredity one might well claim that the 
Maine officials thus early were imbued with, and transmitted to 
their successors, the habit of seizing other people's wines and 
liquors and drinking them without paying for them. 

In 1689, P'ort Charles was surprised by the Indians, who cut 



14 Pcumqtihl ninf Moiihf<yaii. 

off the most of the garrison as they were engaged in some 
ordinary affairs outside the fort, and with a second body made an 
energetic attack on the fort, which was vigorously resisted by the 
small remnant within the fort. The next day the attack was con- 
tinued, and finally, through Madocawando's efforts, Captain 
Weems was induced to surrender on terms for all within the fort, 
viz.: fourteen men and some women and children who had been 
fortunate enough to get in there for protection. They were 
immediately put on board a sloop and sent to Boston. Sixteen 
men had been killed in the attacks on the fort ; of those outside 
who had been cut off, the French Indians carried off about fifty 
captives; the number of killed is unknown. It took Captain 
Weems three years to obtain the pay for his men and himself, 
and twice he petitioned to London. This was a serious calamity 
to the frontier, and the necessity of rebuilding and restoring 
Pemaquid was urgent. 

In 1693, Governor Phipps, who was born in that neighborhood, 
(his father had lived at Pemaquid), directed the fort to be rebuilt 
in a solid way of stone. It took in the great stone at the south- 
west that was outside the old stockade and so unfortunate for 
it in the last attack, and was heavily armed and strongly 
garrisoned. He named it 

FORT WILLIAM HENRY. 

The long Indian and French war had devastated the frontier 
on either side, but the two rival nations still opposed a threat.- 
ening front at Pemaquid and at the Penobscot. Predatory and 
bloody skirmishing was maintained on both sides against the 
settlements of their opponent. 

In 1696, Fort William Henry was attacked by two French 
frigates and five hundred French and Indians, and on the second 
day it surrendered to them on terms. Chubb, the commander, 
was held long in jail in Boston on his return, his conduct having 
been unsatisfactory. The P'rench destroyed the fort by tipping 
over the walls, and retired. 

In 1697, the Treaty of Ryswick was made, and the possession 
of Nova Scotia was restored to France, whose claims to a 
predominant title over New England had never been abandoned. 
Renewed efforts were made on the English side to settle eastern 
Maine again. What with the attacks and counter attacks 



PcwaquiJ aihl Monhegaii. 15 

stimulated by the national antipathy and the determination of the 
Indian tribes to limit the white man's occupancy to the mere 
fishin- stations on the coast, rep^ardlcss of treaties or prior sales 
by them, there was a constant turmoil. Treaties were violated 
directly the pressure that induced them was removed. The 
hardy New Eni^landers, grown skilful in Indian fighting, struck 
fiercely at the citadels of Indian power — their villages — besides 
maintaining defensive attitude around their own homesteads. 

Let me generalize. In 1700-03, there were attacks on our 
towns ; 1704-07, attacks by us on Port Royal. In 1709-10, Port 
Royal was recaptured by us. In 171 1, our disastrous attack on 
Canada. In 17 12 hostilities ceased, and 171 3 the Treaty of 
Utrecht was made, whereby P'^rancc ceded "all Nova Scotia or 
Acadia comprehended within its antient boundaries ; as also the 
city of Port Royal, now called Annapolis Royal," etc. There 
was a bright hope for peace, but the indefinite limits of the 
cession soon led to further difficulty. 

In 1716, an order to re-establish the Fort at Pemaquid was 
issued, but not executed. 

In 1 717, a treaty with the Indians was renewed, and in 17 19 
the old settlers and land holders at Pemaquid began to return. 

In 1722, Lovewell's War broke out ; the great successes at 
Norridgewock and at Pigwackat broke the Indian power. Some 
fishing vessels after hard fighting were captured and rescued. 
The bounty for scalps went up to ^100. 

In 1724, the Indians captured two fishing vessels at the Isles 
of Shoals and eight at P^ox Island thoroughfare, in all twenty-two 
sail ; killed twenty-two fishermen, and made twenty-eight 
prisoners. In 1725 more were surprised and taken. 

In 1726, Dummer's Treaty was signed with the Indian tribes. 
It was not popular, but Pemaquid, after lying waste for over 
twenty years, began to revive. 

In 1729, Dunbar, the governor, under a royal order of the 
province of Sagadahoc, fixed his headquarters at Pemaquid. He 
rebuilt the fallen fort and called it 

FORT FREDERIC. 

In 1735, the jurisdiction was turned over again to Massachu- 
setts, and in 1737 the fort was dismantled. In 1740 'it was 
repaired, and in 1744 it was strengthened for the I-'rcnch War, 



i6 Pemaquici and Monhegan. 

in which the colonial forces captured Louisburg. Canada re- 
mained still a potential instigator of frontier troubles. 

In 1745, there were attacks on Fort Frederic; 1746, two 
more; 1747, two more, but 1748 brought the peace of Aix la 
Chapelle. 

In 1750, another Indian War broke out, and in 1755 the new 
I'^rench War broke out which, after the most intense struggle 
of the two powers, closed by the capture of Quebec in 1759, 
and the surrender of all Canada and the obliteration of the 
frontier. 

The ancestors of the most of us were in this war of conquest 
for the sake of that peace which the reunion of the whole settled 
continent under one flag affords to the industrious and home- 
loving citizen, and around the old hearthstones family traditions 
are yet proudly handed down of the gallant deeds that made the 
forts at Pemaquid a military supernumerary. 

In 1758, the troops were withdrawn from Pemaquid ; 1762, the 
cannon of P'ort P'rederic were taken out and shipped to Boston. 
The broken Indian power lost all hope when Canada fell; the 
remnant of their tribes were compelled to rely on the colonials for 
trade and supplies The swords were beaten into ploughshares. 
The old fort leisurely rotted away, standing as a souvenir of the 
fierce and dubious struggle during a century and a half in which 
Pemaquid had been the hope or the stay of the English race in 
New PIngland, the fore front of our battle for supremacy on this 
continent. 

1775 yields us one more glimpse of the old fort. The men 
of the duke's country were all patriots ; their worthies like the 
fighting O'Brians, the Sprouls, and others, live yet in the local 
annals of Bristol and the state. 

The coast was exposed to the piratical devastations of the 
navy of Great Britain ; we could not match it, and it was 
apprehended that, could they fortify a good harbor as a base 
of operations, the coasts of Maine, New Hampshire, and Massa- 
chusetts might be lighted with the flames of burning houses and 
plundered as it had been in King Phillip's War. The English 
have ever shown a constitutional partiality for this kind of 
warfare in their contests with the American people. It was felt 
that tl*e old fort was too big to be defended by Pemaquid, and 
too dangerous in an enemy's hands. A town meeting voted 



Peinaqiiiii and Monhegau. ly 

ti) pull (iowii the fort, and stron^^ hands quickly toppled over its 
old walls. The gates and platforms were already rotted, and 
in a few weeks the ruins of Fort F"rederic were much in the 
condition that I beheld them more than a hundred years 
afterwards. 

In 1812, Captain Sproul's company made their camp at the 
old fort, but did not rebuild it. They had several skirmishes 
during the war with plundering boat expeditions from British 
Men-of-War, which are duly narrated in the excellent History 
of Bristol. 

Pemaquid has for half a century been frequented by historians, 
and antiquaries. Rows of almost obliterated cellars mark where 
houses once stood. A paved way has partly been laid bare by the 
removal of a foot or more of earth which had accumulated above 
it which seems to have led from the shore past the fort. Curious 
eyes also think they see evidences of a Spanish occupation 
earlier than the French or English era. A collection of relics 
is slowly accumulating there. The mossy stones of the old 
graveyard join in the chorus that Pemaquid is dead, engulfed 
in victory ! 

The frontier has been moved a hundred miles eastward of the 
Penobscot. The beaver and the Indian have been wiped out. 
The fishery has changed its character except at Monhegan. The 
former elements of its prosperity have ceased to exist. 

In its harbor a stray coaster or a placid yachtsman seeks 
perhaps a refuge from fog or storm. And on a sunny day many 
a lively sloop or cat-boat from the city-peopled islands around 
Boothbay, Mouse or Squirrel, Heron or Capital, Rutherford, Isle 
of Spring, or Fisherman, laden with happy, laughing, holiday 
residents, steers boldly through the reef-bound "thread of life" 
and speeds to these relics of New England's early struggle for 
existence. On those who have read its story these scenes make 
a deep impression. 

Nine or ten miles off Pemaquid Point Monhegan towers like 
a cathedral. Westward, about the like distance, lay the Damrel's 
Cove Islands and Cape Newwagen. A half dozen miles beyond 
is the Sagadahoc of the Popham settlement, almost within signal 
distance lie these points of the triangle, within whose theatre 
were developed the struggles for the settlement and dominion 
of New England I have crudely laid before you. Here from 



1 8 PemaquLi and Monbegiin. 

the West of England, Devon and Somerset, gentlemen and 
fishermen, drove their keels first to its shores, and strove, gaining 
inch by inch, never relenting until the New England homesteads 
gathered under their lee to enjoy the blessings of civil and 
religious liberty. 

AT PEMAOUIU. 

The martial din is over. Xo flag flaunts from its bastions on 
the breeze, no wide-mouthed cannon stares over barbette or 
through port-hole, no morning gun wakes the sleepy inhabitants 
or the cruising sailor from his watch below. The mailed cavalier, 
the grim Puritan, the feathered Abnaqui chief, the French 
man-at-arms, the rollicking. May-pole planting fishermen of the 
West of England, the trading Dutchman, the land pirate and 
the sea pirate walk no more by daylight on the shores of 
Pemaquid ; but when the spirits of the past come back at 
midnight the old Bashaba and these mighty men of past 
generations may gather in the mystic vision like the wild 
huntsmen of the Hartz ^Mountains. But other realistic visions 
might be also mirrored forth ; the sky be relighted with the blaze 
of burning houses, barns and ships ; the air wearied with the war 
whoop and the screams of wounded or dying men. the wail of 
women and children, the cries of battle and of the despair of 
plundered farmers and drowning fishermen. It was in blood, 
tears, pain, labor, and unrelenting perseverance that this land 
was won by the fishermen and the colonists. As the fruit of 
their sacrifices, in peace, plenty and prosperity we look back on 
the past. ?klay I not ask of the warm-hearted members of the 
Historical Society of Hyde Park a tribute to the memorv of those 
hard}- fishermen and landsmen, who breasted the storm of war by 
Pemaquid, until this land became, in fact. Xew England and not 
Xew France. 



i 



LIBRARY OF CONGRESS 



013 995 672 2 ^ 



